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My approach to design has always been about the emotion of the space—how do you want to feel in it? Decorating is simply a tool, not an end in and of itself. When I staged a house for sale, I focused on creating an emotion that the target buyer could connect to … and my properties always sold quickly.
When renovating or re-designing, it is essential to ask why—what is wanting to be accomplished? It’s so easy to just do things for the sake of “updating” and forget that this is your home. It has to function and feel like a space you love. Putting in the latest and greatest gadgets may not create that for you. Too often I see a hodge podge of expensive materials without a cohesive vision of why they are chosen. I love beautiful things, but they have to work in harmony.
Bringing my coaching to design plays a helpful role in determining what you really want, which can be the hardest part of the process! I listen, then reflect back options that work with our physical starting point. The house itself has to be considered, as well. Working with what you have, rather than trying to make it something it’s not, turns out better for you, the house, and its re-sale value.
My personal design “genius” is twofold: recovering space to make things function and flow better, and using a mix of price points to achieve an overall higher end look.
Additionally, I love houses and I understand construction. Many tasks I’ve done myself in my own homes. Re-imagining a space is a big puzzle to me and a very fulfilling one when I figure out how all the pieces need to fall into place, turning a house into the home it deserves to be.
I work as a consultant in the design process and am able to communicate well with contractors if needed. I approach any surprises in the renovation process with a collaborative problem solving attitude. Compromises are always part of it, and often turn into happy outcomes.
I work on an hourly basis offering:
My parents built new houses every few years and I loved wandering construction sites. Figuring out a house was fascinating to me. I spent more time building a house out of boxes stacked on their sides for my dolls, than I ever spent actually playing with the dolls. I doodled “dream houses” and never understood why the parents got the best room. While my sisters played solitaire with a deck of cards, I built towers out of them. Furniture shopping with my parents?? After I picked out the most appropriate sofa (of course), I daydreamed about using a dining hutch as the ultimate house for my Barbies.
In high school and university, I worked in a real estate office as an evening and weekend receptionist. Watching my parents buy and sell a lot of real estate, coupled with my passion for houses, tapped into a talent for assisting the realtors with marketing their homes. I re-wrote their ads, offered some selling tips and gave my two cents on the pricing.
Buying and selling my own real estate furthered this ability and I eventually started my staging, design and interior photography business, GreenApple Staging & Images. I also have had my hand in real estate investing both as a landlord and a “flipper”.
The health challenge I experienced motivated me to take a less physically taxing and less stressful role with houses. I now work on a consulting basis, happier than ever to continue in the creative process.
Home has come to mean that special place where the external environment is attuned to the internal one, inviting connection with ourselves and the ones we love. Home is the safe shelter where we make memories, mark milestones and celebrate life. ♥
